Japanese Patent No. 54-1011 (Kokai 48-51222) teaches that the number of charge/discharge cycles a secondary battery can perform at an acceptable capacity level can be improved by incorporating about 5 wt. % (about 20,000 ppm) of a dopant selected from Ti, Zr, Hf, Sb and Bi into the battery's cathode. Curves A, B, and C in FIG. 2 of JP 54-1011, which summarize the patent's working examples, show this effect. At the same time, however, these curves (along with Curve D) also show that no enhancement in initial discharge capacity is achieved by this approach. Accordingly, JP 54-1011 offers no help in providing new alkaline batteries having enhanced discharge capacities, which is the object of the present invention.